Someone Started #CancelColbert on Twitter Over “Offensive” Tweet

Some folks on Twitter are calling for the outright cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s daily satire show The Colbert Report–using the hashtag #CancelColbert because of a Tweet that rubbed some people the wrong way.

The offending Tweet first appeared on the official Twitter account of The Colbert Report and has since been taken down as the backlash on Twitter grew against it. It read “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” By itself, it might sound offensive to more sensitive readers who didn’t realize it was a reference to Wednesday’s show. That was when Colbert mocked Washington Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder’s Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation as a defensive move against the backlash of his team’s name. See, the joke is that Colbert was recapping his overtly offensive Asian-American character Ching-Chong Ding-Dong, and giving the offensive stereotype his own foundation with an equally offensive name.

Twitter user Suey Park started the #CancelColbert trending topic because “white liberals are just as complicit in making Asian Americans into punchlines and we aren’t amused” and “racist humor comes from racism,” according to her Twitter account. It quickly started racking up supporters and the Tweet came down. That’s when Stephen’s other Twitter account @StephenatHome tried to deflect some of the damage by making another joke about the situation and that only seemed to breathe new life into his critics’ rage…

Of course, it’s extremely unlikely that Comedy Central would cancel The Colbert Report over a Tweet . Colbert’s show sets up these straw men for people to knock down all the time to prove a satirical point and it will be interesting to see how or if he addresses it next week on his show now that someone has not only tried to knock it down but also set the spilled straw on fire.